Guest Blogger: Nancy Knickerbocker, BCTF & Participant in CoDev Central America Education Delegation, April 2013

San Julian, EL SALVADOR—Using puppets they’ve made from paper bags, groups of Grade 5 students enact the daily drama of family members getting ready for their work in fields, kitchens and classrooms. Papa, Mama and children’s puppets chop wood, haul water, cook, eat breakfast, do dishes, help grandparents, pack up their school supplies and say farewell for the day.

Students made puppets to portray a typical day in family life, and then discussed whether division of labour within families was democratic and gender-equitable or not.

“What differences do you see between the two families?” asks teacher María Eugenia Morelos de Ária. The children pipe up eagerly. In one family the children help both parents, but in another the father gives orders while the mother and daughters do the chores, and the sons eat or play. “The Diaz family is not democratic,” the students agree.

As an activist within the Salvadoran teachers’ union ANDES, Morelos is one of the founders of a transformative new program in Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy supported by the BCTF and CoDevelopment Canada. “I believe we need change in our country,” she said. “We want a democratic El Salvador and as teachers we want to contribute. The only answer is to dare to try to make a difference.”

Ensuring equal rights to education for girls and boys, both rich and poor, is fundamental. Soon after the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front was elected in 2009, they passed a law to ensure that no child will ever again be denied access to education because their parents cannot afford pencils or paper, uniforms or shoes. All school supplies now are provided by the state.

Teresa Pérez Nolasco says the ANDES Women’s Secretariat are challenging the sexist content in text books and are creating a new gender-equitable, values-based history of El Salvador, one which does not shy away from the painful period of the 1979-1992 civil war and women’s central role in the struggle to end long years of dictatorship.

When teenagers get pregnant, who gets to stay in school? This student said that debating from Maria’s point of view really made him think.

“No one really wants us to talk about sexism but it’s everywhere— in the streets, in our homes, in our classrooms, in our unions. It has to be a permanent topic of conversation,” Pérez said, adding that the schools chosen for the Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy program are all located in areas with a high incidence of violence against women.

The teachers hope that small changes at school will pave the way for bigger changes in society. Now, rather than seating girls on one side and boys on the other side of the classroom, they have both genders work together in small groups. Instead of allowing the boys out on the playground while the girls do dishes after snack time and sweep the classroom at the end of the day, now all students take turns at these tasks.

Teacher: “What would happen if your papa found a condom in your school bag?”
Boy: “He’d praise me for being well prepared.”
Girl: “He’d kill me!”

In a culture steeped in machismo, these changes have sparked a backlash. Most of Morelos’ students are from campesino families, re-settled in San Julian after their homes were devastated by the 2001 earthquake. Few have had much education, and most adhere to strict gender roles.

“You are going to make my son sweep the classroom? It would be better that I come and do it for him because my son is NOT a girl!” one mother told the teacher.

A girl asked: “Teacher, how can I tell my papa to clear his plate from the table? If I do, he’ll hit me!”

A boy told her: “If I help my mama do the dishes, my father will say I’m gay.”

Morelos emphasizes that greater equity benefits both genders. “For years and years we’ve been putting boys and girls into boxes. Now we teach them they can be part of a big change,” she said. “We explain the project and we involve them in the methodology. Sometimes they help me teach the parents.”

Graduation day: pride in professional development

Despite parental resistance, the Ministry of Education has officially recognized the ANDES Non-Sexist Pedagogy program and granted a diploma for teachers who completed the 118 hours of course work and practicum.

ANDES General Secretary Israel Montano noted that in all its 46 years of existence ANDES and the Ministry of Education had never reached agreement on anything. During the war, they were sworn enemies. But democracy and human rights have come to El Salvador, and now it’s time for fundamental change.

“It costs us to admit that we are machistas,” Montano said, “but it will mean a huge leap forward in terms of the quality of education in El Salvador. The theme of gender is going to be one of the fundamentals of the new curriculum.”

Francisca Melara, a Grade 4 teacher, was proud to share her achievement with her children Jefferson, 14, Ingrid, 11, and Kevin, 7. “It was difficult, but the Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy program is the best professional development I have ever experienced,” she said.

There were lots of smiles, and a few tears, as 92 teachers from throughout El Salvador crossed the stage at the Superior Teacher Training School to receive their diplomas.

BCTF President Susan Lambert praised the ANDES activists. “You have shown such courage and unflinching determination. I want to applaud you. This is true professional development, and it is so encouraging to see the Ministry of Education recognize and support this diploma program. It is through this vital work that teachers in El Salvador will help to build a better world.”

Honduran teachers advocate, even in perilous times

By contrast to the cooperative relations between ANDES and the Salvadoran government, BCTF’s union partners in Honduras operate in a dangerous political landscape. Teachers and others who oppose the policies of the de-facto government of Pepe Lobo have endured severe repression and rights abuses since the military coup of 2009. (See sidebar story.)

Nonetheless, they courageously continue their advocacy on behalf of their students and themselves. Women from COPEMH, the Middle School Teachers’ Union of Honduras, have been working with support from the BCTF and CoDevelopment Canada to develop a curricular module on Gender Equity and Human Sexuality. They have gone through an extensive process of consultation, training, and development of the module, which they aim to get incorporated into the national curriculum.

Daysi Márquez, a chemistry teacher and COPEMH activist, acknowledged the difficulties of trying to work with a government that is attacking teachers’ rights, jobs and lives. “We have to build strategic alliances in support of our children, no matter what else is going on,” she said. “We have to build our hopes for the children of this country to have a better future.”

On the same day as teachers were staging demonstrations and rotating strikes in eight of the 18 departments of Honduras, Márquez presented the draft module to Education Ministry officials in Tegucigalpa. Both unionists and bureaucrats agreed that with spiraling rates of sexually-transmitted diseases and pregnancy among girls as young as 12, adolescents need practical information to keep themselves safe and healthy.

“Beyond that, though, we want our girls to have a life plan, to dream of becoming somebody, not just a mother,” Márquez said.

Curriculum director Nellie Piñeda said: “I didn’t know you [the union] had this wonderful project reaching out to the most marginalized children. Approaching the ministry is the best thing you could do, bringing it through the process. I congratulate COPEMH, and the excellent work of your compañeras.”

The BCTF’s Lambert acknowledged that gender-equity work is critical, and not only in Latin American schools but in Canadian ones as well. “Systemic sexism cripples the life chances of more than 50% of the population,” she said. “Every teacher should take non-sexist pedagogy as a driving principle in their work.”

Elsa Villeda, the only woman on the executive committee of COPEMH, said the workshops had multi-dimensional impacts on the teachers. She asked, “What changes have you seen in yourself and your teaching as a result of the non-sexist pedagogy training?” Here are some of their comments:

There was opposition at home from my husband, but now I’m a new person. I don’t have the fears I used to feel.

I feel stronger as a mother and more confident as a teacher. It’s given me a whole new set of teaching tools to erase and unlearn mistaken concepts about sexuality and gender.

My classes are more dynamic, more participatory, more open to the opinions of others.

I can talk about sexual themes in class without fear or embarrassment. I learned to respect gay and lesbian people for who they are.

It’s been a very profound experience in my life. I’ve learned to be more courageous.

“COPEMH women are moving forward,” Villeda said. “Without doubt there will be many obstacles ahead, but our collaboration and sharing strengthen us. As a team of women, we are ready to contribute to our union.”

“And to lead it!” Márquez chimed in, to hearty laughter all around.

Guest Blogger: Nicki Benson, CoDev Board Member

“But teacher, how do I tell my father to help clear the dishes? If I say that, he will slap me!” These are the kinds of questions that María Eugenia Morelos de Aria gets from her students in rural El Salvador as she puts her non-sexist and inclusive pedagogy (NSP) training into practice.
It is a difficult job but she is determined: “if we want to see change, we have to do something. We have to teach them critical thinking and to be agents for change”.

Maria Eugenia’s students prepare a puppet show on different kinds of family structures. Photo by Nancy Knickerbocker.

María Eugenia is one of a core group of women who were the first to receive NSP training in El Salvador. CoDev, along with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, proudly supports several NSP programs throughout Central America. On April 16th of this year, I had the honour of attending the graduation ceremony for the first Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy Diploma Program offered in El Salvador.

The Delegation with Graduates of the Non-Sexist Pedagogy Diploma Program in El Salvador.

The graduation was one of many stops on a recent teacher delegation to El Salvador and Honduras. In El Salvador, we met with the National Association of Salvadoran Educators (ANDES 21 de junio) whose Women’s Secretariat has facilitated the program. In addition to the Diploma program, they are also developing a beautiful curriculum document which highlights gender equality but also encourages students to think critically about their country’s history and their own lived experiences.

Maria Eugenia asks her students to reflect. Photo by Nancy Knickerbocker

The activities in the document along with those I observed in Maria Eugenia’s classroom are the most genuine examples of critical pedagogy that I have seen with my own eyes. Not only do they encourage students to be critical thinkers and to focus on issues of social justice, they also use dialogue and reflection as key teaching tools. Teachers using this approach are not authoritative figures who simply deposit information into their students’ brains – they are instead facilitators who encourage students to develop their own consciousness about the world around them.

In Honduras, teachers are also determined to base their lessons on the lives and needs of their students. Because of high rates of teen pregnancy and violence against women in Honduras, they are focussing their program on gender and sexual health for middle school students. We visited a classroom in Honduras, met with the Ministry of Education, met with the College of Middle School Teachers of Honduras (COPEMH), and attended a workshop where the first 35 women to engage in NSP training evaluated the two-year process of creating and implementing their curriculum resource.

It was such an honour to be a witness to the transformative changes that the teachers of Central America have committed to. Although I was there to represent CoDev, more than anything I was there to learn. I learned that there are teachers all over the world who are committed to making the world a more just place. And I learned what it means to put critical pedagogy into action no matter what kinds of resources and support are available.

Mural at the COPEMH office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Photo property of mimundo.org

Yesterday’s annulment or suspension of the genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Rios Montt and his chief of intelligence, General Rodriguez Sanchez, is a setback to the process of bringing to justice those people responsible for the more than 200,000 people who were killed or disappeared during the Guatemalan civil war from 1960 to 1996. The trial, which was due to wrap up soon, has heard the testimony of more than 100 people who were victims and witnesses to the abuses that involved 1,771 Maya indigenous women, men and children from the Ixil region who were killed, tortured, raped, imprisoned and kept as sexual slaves during Rios Montt’s tenure as president between 1981 and 1983. In recent weeks supporters of Rios Montt and the military have published ads in the Guatemalan press calling into question the veracity of the testimony and trying to downplay the war of terror that was unleashed on the population at the time.

The trial was suspended on a technicality which if it is upheld will mean that the trial will have to begin again at the pre-trial phase that took place in November of last year. 

The two plaintiffs in the case, the Association for Justice and Reconciliation and the Centre for Legal Action on Human Rights, are not planning to give up and with the brave Guatemalans who have stepped forward to testify, will continue to push this case landmark case forward. 

Amnesty International (UK) posted the this update on the trial yesterday. 

For more extensive coverage, see Democracy Now’s report and interview with investigative journalist Alan Nairn.

CoDevelopment Canada invites you to join us on Saturday, June 1st (doors at 5:30pm) for CoDev’s annual fundraising dinner at the (NOTE Location Change) Fraserview Hall (8240 Fraser Street, Vancouver). Come celebrate 28 years of building partnerships between like-minded organizations, in Canada and Latin America, to empower women, foster Canadian-Latin American partnerships and strengthen civil society.

It will be an evening of great food, good friends, fantastic entertainment, and our popular silent and dessert auctions!

This year we are thrilled to have invited a few participants who have participated in CoDev delegations to Latin America to share with us how this experience affected them. We also welcome back Vancouver’s best MC, Charlie Demers, and we will finish off the evening with some amazing salsa dancing led by our good friends from Más Movement!

Tickets for this fantastic event, which sells out every year, are available now! Tickets are $65 each or $25 for low income. Tables of 10 can be purchased for $650.

Buy Tickets Now!

Online using PayPal

Email

Telephone: 604.708.1495 x 112

We appreciate your help in getting this information widely distributed, and also welcome donations for the popular silent auction. Suggestions for the silent auction include the loan of cabins, sailboat trips, professional services, dinners, artwork etc. Please contact us if you have an item you would like to donate. Deadline to donate is May 24th.

Thank you and we you hope you will join us to celebrate the work of CoDev and our partners!

Here are some amazing photos from last year’s event, courtesy of Josh Berson Photography:

Guest Blogger: Kim Kildare, CoDev Intern

I am an anthropology student at SFU, so when I took a class about social justice that required me to volunteer at a placement for a few months, CoDev was my first choice to volunteer with. Women’s rights and labour rights have always been important to me since my first job at 17 where I feel my labour was exploited.

One of the first values I was told about at CoDev was that it was an organization that focused on working with partners. Instead of an ‘us helping them’ mindset which creates a dependency and a power hierarchy, CoDev focuses on mutually beneficial relationships where knowledge is shared between the Global North and South. These relationships are the building blocks for creating social justice.

One way in which CoDev and their partners are working towards global justice in through addressing labour rights and concerns in maquilas. Many workers are exploited in maquilas and throughout Latin America. Men and women are paid poor wages for long hours of work in often unsafe conditions. The people most found in these factories are women though this is changing as more men enter the work. The work is meticulous and repetitive, with workers incurring injuries due to the repetitive work. Thankfully, CoDev’s partners in Honduras and Nicaragua are able to accompany women and men to the labour ministries in order to get the pay they are due, start paying their health insurance, and to fight for occupational health and safety policy changes.

Neoliberal policies are spreading throughout the world which affects CoDev’s partners. The privatization of public jobs means that wages will likely go down and unemployment go up as companies try to compete with each other. In Colombia, unions who have protested such changes have been abused or people disappeared. Privatization means that the company running the service is not directly responsible to the people of the nation. CoDev supports unionization and the communication between unions in Canada and those in Latin America which help develop relationships and shared knowledge.

What I have learned to appreciate most in my time at CoDev is the relationship building at the heart of the organization and how it creates a stable platform for global justice to develop on.

The Frontlines delegation spent a day and a half in Medellin, Colombia – most of it in the company of FENALTRASE – Antioquia, the provincial branch of the national federation of state workers. We have been working together with FENALTRASE Antioquia for several years and three years ago began to jointly support a training program for their workers with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). FENALTRASE brings together 14 public sector unions in Antioquia. The training workshops were designed to help their members prepare for collective bargaining with the state sector, a fundamental right that has been denied to most public sector workers in Colombia.

FENALTRASE-Antioquia members reporting on their current situation and how the training workshops are contributing to their work as union leaders. Photo: Josh Berson

Among the issues that they are working to change:

1. Contracting out of the Public Service: In most sectors of the public service in Colombia, between 70 – 80% of the labour force are workers on contract. The result is that these workers have no benefits, no job security, lower wages and no protection from abuse. This situation is so critical that eliminating sub-contractors, known as CTAs or workers cooperatives, was one of the perquisites for the US to sign the free trade agreement with Colombia. Although CTAs are now officially illegal in Colombia, the practice continues unimpeded.
2. Collective Bargaining: Colombia has only recently given in to pressure from unions, the ILO and others international bodies and agreed to recognize the right of public sector workers to bargain collectively. So far, the results are negligible, with public employers ignoring or responding extremely slowly to union attempts to come to the bargaining table.
3. Threats and Violence: Violence against trade unionists in Colombia remains a huge obstacle to unions trying to organize in a workplace. Few people want to risk their jobs, much less their lives to join a union, even when they realize their basic labour rights are being trampled. Colombian unionists continue to push for an end to violence against them and an end to the nearly complete impunity that blankets the more than 2,500 trade unionists assassinated in the last 25 years.

The Frontlines Initiative, a joint project of PSAC, NUPGE, CUPW and CUPE to work in solidarity with public sector workers and other human rights defenders in Colombia, sent a delegation to Colombia between March 7 and 17. CoDev works together with the Frontline unions in support of this work.

FENALTRASE-Antioquia affiliate: Hospital workers at the Medellin General Hospital organize an information demonstration outside the hospital to protest the loss of benefits. Photo: Josh Berson

CoDev Executive Director, Barbara Wood, is travelling as one of the coordinators of the 2013 delegation of the Frontlines Initiative – a joint project of four Canadian public sector unions working together in solidarity with Colombia since 2004 – and shares some reflections from three days in Cali.

Day One

Water workers and community water activists from rural Valle de Cauca gather to meet with the Frontlines delegation. The banner reads ” For the Defence of a Public AQUAVALLE” (Acuavalle is a public water and sanitation company in Valle de Cauca that is under contstant threat of privatization).
Photo: Josh Berson

With the union of water workers in rural Valle de Cauca, SINTRACUAVALLE. SINTRACUAVALLE has already fought off privatization of the water system five times. Each time they have worked hard to involve the community in protesting the privatization plans. 80% of the water is provided to poor communities that receive it at a reduced rate as part of the public company’s social responsibility. 

We were greeted with music and children singing songs about water. We heard from workers and community members committed to keeping water in public hands and keeping it accessible and sustainable. 

Day Two

Frontlines delegation meeting with NOMADESC and community partners in the patio of their office.
Photo: Josh Berson

In the company of community leaders and representatives from indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant communities and human rights defenders. NOMADESC has worked for more than 10 years with these communities and organizations to empower them to understand their rights, to tell their stories and to seek justice. The stories they tell are painful: loved ones murdered, death threats, exile. 

Under a giant tree in the back patio of NOMADESC’s office, we shared sancocho and coffee, stories and tears. 

Day Three

Indigenous guards of the Kiwe Nasa people in La Delfina.
Photo: Josh Berson

With two small communities near the Pacific Coast of Colombia that work with NOMADESC. In La Delfina the Kiwe Nasa indigenous people talked to us quietly about the attacks and threats they have suffered at the hands of the Colombian army, the paramilitaries and the guerrilla. Indigenous guards patrol their communities and work to protect the environment as well as the people, their batons a sign of authority and respect. 

A young woman, mother to two children was threatened and then killed here in mid-February. The community is now living together in the community house and school to try to protect one another. They have resisted leaving their land for decades. The strength of their resistance is humbling. 

Further west we meet 18 women from a small Afro-Colombian community. Each of these women suffered the death of a family member and have come together to restore the historical memory and to demand justice for these deaths. The women spoke through tears, recounting the crimes, remembering their loved ones. Their dignity and courage is overwhelming.

A member of the Women’s Group of La Triana shares her story.
Photo: Josh Berson

Guest Blogger: Jenny Sung, CoDev Intern

When I first heard the words “non-sexist pedagogy”, I assumed that I knew what it meant based on the definitions of each word. On Dictionary.com, sexism is defined as “attitudes or behaviours based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles” and “discrimination based on person’s sex, restrict opportunities”. Pedagogy is defined as
“function or work of a teachers, teaching” and “art or science of teaching education; instructional methods”. By combining these definitions I created a definition of non-sexist pedagogy or NSP, however; as I continued to see these words reappear in various reading materials at CoDev, I questioned how instructional methods could be sexist. I also wondered about the role of NSP towards gender equality. Here is what I was able to find out.

NSP is an approach to teaching that brings gender issues to the forefront to create changes towards equal gender relations. As more women took on leadership roles in Central America, they realized the importance of taking their equity focus towards developing teaching methods that empower students and promote gender equity. The teaching methods are built on values of equality, inclusion and transformation. NSP programs are being created with a great emphasis on inclusion. In fact, NSP is also referred to as non-sexist and inclusive pedagogy. By including the word “inclusive”, it allows the program to go beyond focusing solely on women’s rights and towards teaching methods with open and positive approaches for the rights of all minorities and the oppressed.

Currently in Central America, children and students are taught in a behaviourist approach where learning is acquired through observation and reinforcement. This approach focuses on memorization and there are minimal discussions on gender-related issues. Textbooks contain examples and illustrations of traditional gender role stereotypes. NSP is trying to break the traditional depictions of gender roles in teaching materials and lessons and encouraging a constructive approach that focuses on students’ participation. Students are encouraged to contribute equal value in their education. CoDev supports its teacher organization partners in Central America with their work on the development of learning materials, teachers’ guides and the training of NSP programs. Here are some NSP activities currently taking place:

• Teachers’ organizations in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador have teams of NSP promoters training their co-workers at national levels
• Federation of Central American Teachers’ Organiztaions (FOMCA) maintains a virtual resource centre for the region that allows teachers from throughout the region to dialogue, share innovations and download NSP lesson aides
• El Salvador’s education ministry has invited the women’s secretariat to establish an NSP diploma program at the Teachers’ Professional Development College (ESMA)
• Honduras has created, for middle and high school students, a sexual education program to create awareness of existing cases of gender-based violence and to address equality

NSP promoters have had some teachers who were resistant to the programs; however, through training programs, there have been cases where the same teachers change their opinions and personally take positive action towards gender equality. They realized that by improving gender equality, other social issues based on inequality, such as poverty, could be resolved. I also realized the crucial role NSP will play in the development of just societies based on inclusion and equality. Education is often referenced as the solution towards a better future and with NSP, children and students will have the proper tools and equal opportunities to create a progressive tomorrow.

Join our Latin American partner, MEC, in supporting gender equality and women’s rights on International Women’s Day!

CoDev’s Partners are Working for Gender Equality! CoDev’s Nicaraguan partner, MEC (Maria Elena Cuadra Movement of Employed and Unemployed Women) and the other activists in the Nicaraguan women’s movement achieved a significant victory in 2012 when the government approved legislation titled a Law Against Violence Against Women. MEC’s approach combines grassroots gender education with proposals to change laws that affect women. The legal reforms that they have developed come out of women’s experience and reflect aspirations for gender equality. These changes have not come easily, but MEC has persisted and gained important public support for these campaigns and advocacy along the way. 

At the start of their campaign to achieve the law, Nicaraguan women took it to the National Assembly as a proposal supported by the signatures of 12,000 women from around the country. They then organized forums, marches and meetings, and rallied for three days outside the National Assembly to keep the pressure on the legislators as they considered the bill. 

According to MEC, this is the first time in history that Nicaraguan law spells out and condemns all forms of violence against women, including the crime of femicide. MEC Director, Sandra Ramos says that the law is dedicated to the 800 women who have been murdered in the last ten years in Nicaragua. 

“CoDev’s support has been fundamental to achieving the successes we have in protecting the rights of women workers in the free trade zones. These are difficult times for everyone, for you, for us, and we believe that solidarity must be maintained to continue to promote the rights of both our countries’ most vulnerable women.” Sandra Ramos, MEC Still Work Left to Do! On International Women’s Day, it is important to celebrate the momentum that the gender agenda has achieved. However, we must also recognize that there is still much to do before gender equality is fully realized. The recession in North America and the changes in the global economy have created new pressures on maquila workers to conform to lower standards. Teachers in many countries face uphill struggles to maintain their basic rights and the right to public education for their students. These immediate crises threaten to push women’s rights to the background. CoDev’s partnership model supports organizations to keep gender equality and women’s rights on the agenda. 

Solidarity in Action! Your support of $35, $50 or even $100 will help CoDev continue to work together with our partners, responding to their needs and together promoting social change throughout the Americas. This International Women’s Day you can continue to support solidarity and have a major impact on the lives of women in Latin America. 

We hope that you will continue to work with us for global justice!

Win two tickets to our Annual Dinner on June 1st!

Are you a CoDev member*? From now until May 8th you can enter to win tickets for you and a friend to our upcoming Annual Fundraising & Solidarity Dinner on June 1st at the Maritime Labour Centre.

CoDev’s annual dinner has sold-out in recent years. No surprise with great food, good friends, fantastic entertainment and a silent auction full of treasures! All proceeds support CoDev’s work in building Canadian-Latin American solidarity. So save the date and enter the draw for a chance to win tickets and introduce a friend to the great work of CoDev! You can show them this slideshow from last year’s event to entice them!

To enter the draw please contact us via email or at 604.708.1495 x112 (we are working hard to make tickets available online)! Tickets for the draw are $5 each or 5 for $20! There will be three winners drawn for a total of six tickets being given away.

*Not a member? Become one today!

Want to know more? Check out the full terms & conditions of this draw (PDF).